Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

4. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her plan in the programme for Government to tender school facilities to community groups and private providers is to use public schools for private child care; if she will offer publicly provided and funded after-school care in schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14719/16]

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Would Deputy Smith like to introduce her question?

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the refreshing clarity the Minister is bringing to the answers she is giving. The clarity she brought to the question on the linkage between child benefit and school attendance was very useful because we did not get anything close to that from the Taoiseach yesterday.

My question is on the plans in the programme for Government to tender out public school facilities for use as after-school child care by community and other organisations. I am delighted that public schools are being used for this purpose because it is essential, particularly for parents, and lone parents, who are in work but I am concerned about the use of public schools for potentially private enterprise. Would the Minister not be better off looking towards a publicly funded model for publicly controlled child care facilities? There are many problems with the private model and I may come back to them once I have heard the Minister's response.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I believe I understood the core of Deputy Smith's question but it is important to note that thousands of private providers currently deliver child care through publicly funded child care programmes including the early childhood care and education scheme, the training and employment childcare scheme and, since February of this year, the community childcare subvention programme. My Department is also currently developing a single affordable childcare programme that will enable any public investment in child care, be it for preschool or school-age children, to be directed to families through community or private child care providers.

As the Deputy outlined, the programme for Government indicates that community groups and private providers will be invited to tender to use school facilities, outside school hours, for child care purposes. A cross-departmental group has now been established to consider how best to implement this commitment. Officials from my Department and the Department of Education and Skills are developing a joint proposal for my consideration and the consideration of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Richard Bruton.

As part of this work, the group will assess, and this is part of the Deputy's question, the many issues surrounding this commitment and the funding implications of implementing an after-school scheme for school-aged children.

Matters to be considered by the cross-departmental group include the demand for services and the capacity to provide these, the development of an appropriate quality and standards framework and the development of criteria for the capital scheme providing €3 million in support for after school child care services to be funded by my Department as announced in budget 2016. In addition, the group will gather data, including the existing use of school buildings, and to consider collaborative models with existing community or private service providers.

I am also undertaking with my Department consultations with children to identify what children like and dislike about after school care and to identify the places where children most like to be cared for after school. A report on that consultation will be submitted to me shortly and I have asked the cross-departmental group to consider the voice of the child as part of its deliberations.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome that response but I reiterate that all the research shows that low income families in particular find it difficult to access child care and the average family spends more than 25% of their take-home pay on child care, which is twice what is paid in the European Union. My sister raised her two children in Sweden where the child care facilities were second to none, but it was all publicly run and publicly funded. One paid a small amount into it but it was run by the local commune and it was an excellent facility. There was talk in the previous Government of moving to that kind of model because there are many problems with private child care. I do not know if the Minister is aware of a strike in Kilcoole, County Wicklow in a privatised child care facility called the National Childminding Association of Ireland, which is in receipt of €340,000 of the Department's money annually but which is forcing redundancy on long-term staff with between eight and 15 years service and there is talk of replacing those staff members. That is not redundancy. If it is getting rid of staff it is because the jobs no longer exist. I will ask the Minister a direct question on that later but I am using that example to illustrate that problems can and do exist with private child care providers and we would like to see us moving to a publicly provided model.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

4 o’clock

I am in complete agreement with Deputy Smith's comment that there are problems in both the private child care setting as well as the community and not-for-profit setting. I have done much work in the area over the years and even in community settings for providing child care where there is public money going in, it is still not enough for the people whose children need to be cared for in a fashion that is completely publicly subsidised child care. A very important start was the free preschool year and we are now moving to additional weeks, which we call a second year. They are also provided in that context.

The question also raises absolutely the need for a quality standard, which we are developing. The question particularly relates to after-school care. Allied to that is a way of monitoring and ensuring that those quality standards can be implemented and that those who do not comply will have to answer as to why they should be in receipt of public money.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

By now we should all see the evidence that the more we invest in our population at an earlier point, the greater the return at the other end. It is really well worth our while as a State putting resources into very young children in order to reap the benefits at the other end. There will be fewer problems with addiction, anti-social behaviour and repeated jail terms. It relates to the ability to have well-rounded citizens who can stand on their own two feet and see through their education. There is a need to invest in children when they are very young.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I could not agree more with the Deputy. In the context of my Department's spend, I am delighted that developing a more sustainable, affordable and quality child care system, particularly regarding prevention and early intervention, is second only to the expenditure for Tusla. For the past 15 years, in my professional life I have been a crusader and campaigner for prevention and early intervention, encouraging that kind of investment. With the likes of area-based childhood programmes etc., we have had to draw on philanthropic support and that may not be as much of a possibility in future. That should not represent a barrier to us finding adequate investment, especially for earlier years.